I don’t get why demons and humans hate each other. Sure, they say they look up to Satan and God respectively, but there isn’t really any religion going on.

Not even a cliché ‘Holy Church’ or whatever. It’s more patriotic than a clash of religions to be honest.

Sure, I literally popped into Travia, so these conflicts don’t make much sense to me.

If you were born here, you’d probably grow up under a certain environment where humans and demons hating each other is natural.

Growing up that way, you wouldn’t question the conflict at all.

But to be honest, from an outsider’s point of view, it really seems stupid.

I mean, an entire war is about to wage. Why?

Because the demons don’t like humans and vice versa.

There. That’s it.

No real meaning behind it. Nothing to gain, but a lot of lives to lose.

I don’t care about the masses – they can die for all I care, but if I were to look at this neutrally…

… I’d say the war is pointless.

It also isn’t racism of the sort, since as far as {Omniscience} can tell, both ‘races’ have nearly identical DNA and genomes.

So… both ‘humans’ and ‘demons’ are actually all one identical race. They were just split a long time ago by who knows what.

Maybe it's because I know this fact that I think the war is pointless?

No one else apart from me knows, after all.

Well, at least I think only I know it. There’s no such thing as genetic tracing in this world, so finding the information on your own would be nearly impossible.

In fact, the genetic resemblance is… a little too similar.

World history states something about the two deities spawning a bunch of underlings to help fight in the old war, right?

And these underlings – ancestors of todays ‘demons’ and ‘humans’ – clearly reproduced. The concept of sex and babies isn’t foreign knowledge.

Kids don’t come out of cabbage patches. Neither are they magically summoned from other worlds.

Which means the underlings the two gods summoned had to be flesh and blood.

A fragment of the original casters soul.

And, based on the similarities…

…

The two gods were…

…Related? Somehow?

Like, siblings?

I… Er, I think I, uh… uncovered something huge. This could change history as the world knows it.

Might even lead to an alliance between ‘humans’ and ‘demons’.

By huge, I mean it.

I stop in my tracks, frozen in though.

This is… groundbreaking.

Stunning, even.

Because – this could affect me.

In the present. It could affect not only me, but the entire world. As a whole.

Right now.

If what I just theorised is true, then…

…

…No. Them being siblings seems plausible enough, but that shouldn't be true.

It’s more of denial than anything else, but…

Forget about it.

They’re siblings. Okay, cool.

End of the story.

Haha…I sure am a joker, no?

No way they would still be around.

Forcing myself not to question the fabric of reality that encompasses the entire world, I find a maid in a suggestable outfit, and I ask her for directions.

She seems puzzled, but politely bows. “Right past the corridor, Ma’am.”

It’s fine. In a week's time, everyone will recognise my face. No one wondering ‘who is that woman’ anymore.

I guess I look kind of out of place, wearing a shady cloak and all.

But armour is rather overrated.

At my current level, I’ve got to go through hell just to acquire raw materials good enough for my standards.

And I have to find a blacksmith even capable of bending the material. Monster parts with 6,000 or so stats aren’t malleable, okay?

And those beasts are, like, Mithril S-rankers who live in the corner of the world or whatever.

Gyras, I will remember you! Your feats shall not be forgotten! When I become [Demon Lord], I’ll erect a statue of you T-posing on Porky’s corpse!

Maybe not the last part, but Gyras’ death was rather unfortunate.

Grr, I still haven’t forgiven you, Porky!

Stay in that storage system for a bit longer!

As I stumble along the vibrantly painted corridors, I finally find a rather large door, adorned with fancy paintings and stuff.

It looks impressive, but I couldn’t care less about aesthetics.

Maybe if the floor was covered in beanbags.

I knock on the door, waiting for a bit before I get a dull response.

“C’mon in.”

Yikes, where did her previous enthusiasm go? What happened to Harwel while I was bulking up?

I slowly snick the door open, careful not to make any rambunctious movements. Harwel stares out the window, and doesn't even bother looking at me.

What the HELL happened to her?

“So, Ms Maid, when is Rena coming?” she asks, without turning her head.

…What a bozo.

Speaking up in a loud tone, I say a single word. “Idiot.”

However, it’s enough to bring the light back into Harwel’s eyes, and she swivels her head so fast I literally hear a crack.

“R-r-r-r-r-r-rrrr-r-r-r-rr-r-r-Renaaa??” she stammers, going into a verbal spasm. Er, her eyes get all soggy, and she looks up at me like a puppy.

“Wrong person,” I reply, joking around as I give off a light chuckle.

Long time no see, Harwel!

She cartoonishly bursts into tears – a wave of water sprouting out of each of her eyes.

Oops. Did I awaken a yandere?

“Rena! I missed you sooooo much!” bawls Harwel, as she runs up to me, trying to give me a bear-hug.

I easily sidestep, and she crashed into the door.

Hahaha, you fool! With my awakened stats and future sight, nothing you do can get past me!

… Unless you outspeed me like Lin did.

Harwel gets up, and begins chasing me again, screaming my name like some sort of ritualist.

Seriously, what demonic being is possessing her?

I guess I’ll excuse myself for a bit and let her calm down…

I flop into my shadow, dodging a (rather slow in my perspective) tackle.

“Nooo, come back, Rena!”

… You know I’m still here, right? Just lurking in the shadows for a bit, don’t mind me…

Finally, after what felt like an hour, Harwel calms down. Yeesh, I was almost going to run out of mana to stay in my shadow, as well!

Thanks to a combination of [Reduced Consumption], [Reparation] and [Stockpile], I can essentially stay in my shadow forever.

However, slinking into another shadow that isn’t mine drains a lot more mana, so at least I now know the maximum is an hour or so.

Eventually, I pop back out after.

Harwel seems calm enough, so it should be fine. I mean, even before, she wasn’t that over-the-top!

After talking for a bit, I managed to piece together fragments of a puzzle.

Hmm..

How should I put it?

Porky basically did…

…Er, he did…

Uh… unspeakable things.

Basically, the piggy was being really freaky and… concerning.

I always suspected so, but turns out Porky really was mentally constipated.

It's fair enough that Harwel got traumatised after such… profane actions.

So yeah. After her mental breakdown, Harwel eventually returned to normal.

A bit clingy, but not yandere, stalker vibes. Maybe a bit.

But it’s Harwel, okay? Something would be off if she wasn’t so … attached.

“Rena, I knew you would come save me! How did you do it?” she chants, her eyes practically shining. “How did you beat all those [Demon Lords]?”

“…Well, I didn’t actually beat Lin. It's more like we met at a middle-ground, and I…”

“You what?” pleads Harwel, as she gives me those puppy dog eyes. “What did you do?”

Why does this feel more like storytelling to a young child than a serious discussion?

I mean, she’s literally glazing over every single word!

I’m not even trying to add the hanging word effect. I’m just trying to converse normally!

Ah… forget about it.

“I joined the [Demon Lords],” I bluntly reply. Frankly, my explanation was pretty mediocre, but either Harwel doesn’t mind, or she’s too dim to question what I say.

“Rena? You, a [Demon Lord]! How? Don’t you need those super duper special skills?”

I blankly stare at Harwel, waiting for it to figure it out. Geez, was she always this slow?

“Oh! Rena, do you have a deadly sin skill? Which one?” she asks, the words slipping out of her mouth as she hurriedly tries to finish the sentence. “That’s so amazing!”

“Greed. I’ll be announced as a new [Demon Lord]. Mistress Greed.”

I idly sit around, waiting for Harwel to stop foaming from her mouth. She also gets those cartoony spinny-eyes.

Seriously? If Porky was mentally constipated, then Harwel has… mental diarrhoea!

Her thoughts seem to be overflowing and overloading her mind.

Finally, for the second time today, Harwel begins to calm down. She finally talks like post creeper Harwel!

“Wait, Rena?” she questions, after a brief, almost fleeting moment of silence. “Remember when you saved me from the Stinam? And I asked how strong you were? Was that due to [Absorption]?”

Huh. So Harwel managed to connect the dots.

“Yeah. Though, I’m even stronger now.”

“Waaahhh, Rena! Gimme some of that power!”

I wish too, Harwel. I wish too. But it seems for now, I can’t transfer Stat capsules or Skill capsules. Unlike most things that are directly linked to the system – the skills and abilities that grow immensely after level-eps, ‘Soul transferring’ and other technical stuff like that that the system doesn’t directly support is a lot harder to manage.

It’ll take time for me to learn how to transfer souls. It’s not something I can master overnight by grinding.

Sort of like a child with a gun fighting a trained samurai?

The kid easily outstrips the man in firepower, but the samurai’s training and skill closes that gap up.

“No can do,” I reply, giving Harwel a light flick on the forehead.

Harwel flinches in pain, and practically squeals as a massive bruise forms.

…Really? I was already straining myself to hold back. That was about as weak as I could manage!

“Um… Sorry?”

“All good, Rena! If it’s you, I don’t mind!”

Yeesh. Harwel needs to make some other friends. At this rate, she’ll begin idolising me!

…Harwel already is, isn’t she?

Nonono, I’m sure it’s not too late for Harwel to change.

Jokes aside (ignoring my overreactions to every little thing Harwel says), it sure is nice to see her again.

I wonder how Yache and co are doing now.

I’ll go check up on them later, I guess.

Harwel wanted me to give some stats to her, which I can’t physically – technically, spiritually – manage, so I guess I’ll give her the closest, second best thing.

From my storage, I dump out the Highwalker Boots, accompanied by some other expensive looking monster material that I salvaged.

I might as well add my Mantoid Daggers to the mix, since I’m sure I’ll get an upgrade from the demon treasure vault or whatever if I ask Lin.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I mean, that guy, or the [Demon Lords] in general, are absolutely stacked. They’re so loaded, an irresponsible shopping trip could lead to an economic crisis or haven.

Depending on whether the currency gets inflated or not.

The money system is used worldwide though, so the inflation would be relatively minimal.

I’m pretty sure the elves, or some other humanoid species have some other sort of currency used in traditional stores.

If memory serves well, they use, well…

They use memories as a currency.

Which sounds pretty interesting nonetheless.

Well, either way, if a [Demon Lord] emptied their pockets, it could lead to a very prosperous business – in theory, that is.

In reality?

Well, Kaherine and Doug have literal allowances. Allowances.

I said it twice, because I’m dead serious.

Lin gives them an allowance. And they’re full grown adults!

How terrible do they have to be at financing for Lin to implement a restriction like that?

I probably won’t get one though. I acted mature enough when we held that conference/battle.

So, basically Lin gets 3 [Demon Lords] worth of wealth.

Though he spends almost all of that to pay back the demon community – stuff like building roads, free healthcare, education, and a bunch more.

No wonder why the land Lin directly oversees has the highest population.

I wouldn’t say it's megacity dense, or even city level dense. But, you have to look at it through the lens of an average Travia inhabitant.

Towns are already considered one of the most populated areas. Outskirt villages are pretty normal, and only kingdom capitals and other mumbo jumbo out-dense towns.

I’d say the territory Lin supervises has a person-to-land rate double that of a kingdom capital.

Pretty impressive, no?

Hey, politics aren’t that bad! Still pretty bad though…

Not barf level bad. More like sleeping level bad.

Putting that aside, I hurriedly leave the room while Harwel is distracted by the amazing stuff I ‘donated’ to her.

If I don’t get out of here now, I could never see the light of day again!

I’ll get bombed by thanks and welcomes!

Runnn!

“Wait, Renaa! D-don’t go yet!”

“Sorry, see you soon!”

And with that, I dash away, as I easily outspeed Harwel.

Haaah, such is the power of superior stats!

Before I go looking for Yache, I should drop by Lin’s place just to confirm some stuff.

Using my dungeon to shift to Lin’s personal chamber – or is it a study?

Oh well. Using my dungeon to shift to Lin’s place, I reappear right in front of him.

…Does he even know I’m standing here?

He’s writing away, probably doing all the hard administrative officework.

How focused do you have to be in order to not notice a person standing right in front of you?

Literal MINUTES pass, but Lin still sits there, scribbling without rest.

Yaawwnn

I’m getting kind of bored waiting. Should I just cough or something?

“Ahem. Lin.”

Lin suddenly stops writing, seeming perplexed. He looks up, and slightly recoils in surprise. “I would prefer it if you knocked,” he states coldy.

Damn, nice save!

“Apologies. Just asking, do you have any high-grade daggers?” I respond, sounding curious yet sorry at the same time.

Lin slightly tilts his head. “Yes, I happen to know the location of an S-ranked set of daggers. Why do you ask?”

“…I want them” I say, skipping right to my main point. Forget about beating around the bush, I didn’t even touch it!

“I suppose there would be no disadvantage to such an action. I will get them delivered to your temporary room by evening.”

“Thank you.”

This guy sure knows how to please people! And organised to the boot! I turn around, ready to leave, but a voice interrupts.

“Oh, by the way, Rena?” he asks, before continuing, “it was you who had thrashed Jinda’s manor, I presume?”

“Correct.”

Augh, am I going to get punished?

The damage wasn’t that bad, okay?

…

Yeah, it was pretty bad.

Luckily for me, one of my concerns is voiced. “Did you, perhaps, locate a hidden basement?”

Oh? There’s genuine interest in his voice. Like he’s speaking with passion or something.

Well, I might as well answer truthfully. No point hiding it. Besides, Lin would only ask something that was counter-intuitive if he had suspicions, right?

“Yeah. I found this empty basement under some fancy carpet.” I calmly reply, trying to keep my voice monotone.

If I get too emotional, I might get sussed out by acting suspicious!

Lin seems to contemplate something, as he wears a quizzical expression. “…Empty, you say? Heed no mind then.”

Huh? Was it supposed to be not empty?

Because from what I could tell, the room seemed as abandoned as abandoned could get.

Though, if Lin’s not going to say anything, there’s no point pestering for information.

Besides, I have secrets of my own. It’s not as controversial as it seems though – the other [Demon Lords] just don’t know I also have [Stockpile].

Not a huge secret, but still a rather big one.

With the talk done, I depart once again.

Aright, {Omniscience}, do your stuff and find Yache!

----------------------------------------

{Omniscience} has given me a few general places for his general location. If I [Appraise] someone with the backup of {Omniscience} acting as support, then the [Appraised] individual essentially gets tracked.

Basically I can see their location anytime I want. I’ve already got Harwel and the other [Demon Lords] placed on my map, as well as the four [Heroes].

However, since I had [Appraised] Yache before ascending into {Omniscience}, the tracking feature can’t find him.

So, I have to do this manually…

Obviously, the most likely place of residence would be Lin's land, since it’s the most demon-friendly or whatever, but that's more inland, deeper into demon territory.

And since Windport borders… since Windport bordered the human kingdoms, the trip would be too long.

I’m guessing somewhere a bit closer, while also being pretty adventurer-friendly.

I’m still a bit salty because Doug got Porky to conscript Windport, but I can’t solely shoulder the blame on him.

After all, what he said was just to ‘conscript Windport’.

Jinda, out of his own free will, went crazy and chose to use force… Well, I’m sure Doug would’ve used force as well, but definitely not as over-the-top as Jinda.

Man, I hate Porky!

So, Yache probably went to Lolopops land. Compared to most other areas, Lolopops land has one main attraction that gets it to stand out. Namely, a lot of freedom.

Or maybe little constrain would be a better way to describe it?

Not lawless anarchy – there are still laws to keep people in check, but they’re far more lax than you would expect.

Legal drinking age is eight, after all! I wouldn’t get why an eight year old would voluntarily drink that literal piss-flavoured beer though…

Only guys with an existential crisis would slurp that so-called ‘beer’!

Right. As I was saying before, what is a common trait that leads to people becoming adventurers?

Money is a big one, but I’d say the major player is probably freedom.

Adventurers, as the name suggests… adventure. They go around on… adventures. There really isn’t a better word to describe

I mean the Adventurer’s Guild offers all sorts of stuff like exemption from town entrance taxes just to encourage active movement.

If you want to be an adventurer, you’ve got to have that, well… um… that adventurous trait.

You see what I'm getting at?

Beesides, any land near Windport would either be owned by Lolopop or Doug.

Commonfolk see Doug as some super ruthless maniac – which isn’t far from the truth, except he isn’t really that ruthless, and there’s nothing scary about him.

Might just be a personal opinion though, since Doug is weaker than me and all. But from my perspective, I see nothing but a clown.

Alright. Step one, down. Yache went to the land governed by Lolopop. What next?

The place is pretty huge. I’ve nailed it down, but I need to do a lot more nailing if I want to get to the bottom of this. You see, if the place was divided into rich, working class and poor, it would make it, once again, easier to locate Yache - he’d probably be residing in the ‘working class’ area, with average wealth. However, unlike most places, there isn’t a definite distinction between rich and poor.

Sure, humans, with the slums and all are on a rather high end of the straw, but even in demon territory, there’s still segregation between rich and poor – although not that noticeable.

Even subtle hints like living area. You know?

The rich get the ocean view or whatever, and the working class don’t get the oceanside view.

Maybe that analogy doesn’t really help?

I mean, from what I can tell, the entire humanoid populace lives pretty inland.

Fish are considered a rarity, and literally no one has seen the ocean before.

How does this place even get so much rainfall?

Talk about a fantasy world.

Back to what I was saying, there isn’t a distinction between wealthy and average in Lolopops land.

Everyone is basically the same.

Communism? Not exactly.

If you were rich, you’d obviously move out and find a place that can accommodate your posh taste, so the money lords generally move away and relocate.

And so, that leaves the average Joes behind.

…Which district?

Ugh, I got no idea!

There’s no segregation, so if I were to search for Yache this way, it’ll take a really long time. Too long, even.

Come on, {Omniscience}, help me out a bit here, I beg of you!

Man, I liked it better when [Appraisal] was quick and concise. {Omniscience} might be smarter and more useful, but it waffles too much!

Like a nerd pouring all his textbook knowledge into a one mark question.

I mean, seriously, there’s no need for that!

Though, I’ve got to admit that the suggested idea is rather genius.

Yache is an adventurer, meaning he has an adventurer's licence.

When registering into another sub-branch of the main Guild, he has to confirm his identity and stuff like that.

Which means… drum rolls please…

If I check the files or whatever, I can find Yache’s current location!

Wooo… I feel like those big-brainers in detective shows, where they link tiny threads of evidence to create indisputable evidence.

Should I break in, or should I disguise myself and apply as an adventurer to get closer to the files?

Obviously, breaking in is easier. With stats like mine, I’m sure I’ll never get caught!

Not to mention, I have a whole entire dungeon to fall back on.

If I just wait it out till I get publicly announced as a [Demon Lord], I’m sure I could also use my power and force the files to my hands.

Though… I kind of want to get the thrills going incognito and all.

Ah, damn. I better act fast – my ‘ceremony’ or whatever is starting… in a week, I think?

If I don’t infiltrate in time, it could lead to a bunch of trouble later on – especially if my face gets recognised.

Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it infiltration, but you know what I mean.

Besides, the Adventurer’s Guild values animosity, right?

Alright, here I go.

Draping on the long hooded cloak, I go to the nearest Adventurer's Guild.

The cloak should probably suffice. I can always paint my face in light shadow magic to make it harder to recognise me properly if I wanted to.

In fact, that’s exactly what I'm going to do.

I’m also not bothered to wait for some official rank examination, so I take a quick detour, and kill some rather pathetic monsters, dumping them into my storage.

For my standards, they’re laughable, really. But to an ordinary receptionist, a bunch of B-ranked corpses could easily elevate me to High-Gold. Maybe even Diamond?

There. Just like before with the moles, if I do something impressive, I’m guaranteed a promotion.

Walking into Ophia caves – a place where I once had a traumatic experience, I hunted down some Mantis’, wolves, and other creatures.

First, I faced a bunch of wolves. They seemed aggressive, and circled me, sizing me up.

And, the alpha jumped at me, baring its teeth – the ones lightly stained pink.

…

And it died toa single dark bullet. Yeesh, talk about wimpy.

As soon as the other wolves saw the event unfold, they turned their tails, and made a break for it.

I hunted them down and killed every single one, naturally.

At least the Mantis’ managed to tank one dark bullet. A stronger one even survived a black bullet – though only on 3 HP.

After a rather quick sweep, I haul the stuff into my storage, before returning to my original pathway.

----------------------------------------

I step into the Adventurer’s Guild.

To be honest, I’m a little surprised at the interior. The architecture here is nothing like before.

I thought every single Guild used the same template, but I guess not.

Most notably; this one has a second story. Which is pretty impressive, considering the tallest building I’ve ever seen here is only 3 storeys. It might be because of the lack of strong material, so a building won’t exactly be able to hold, say, five houses worth of weight.

Alright, let's try to be quiet and blend into the crowd. None of my usual conspicuous [Aura] today. Boop. Turned off.

Striding towards the receptionist’s stand, I notice a sleepy looking guy literally sprawled on the desk.

Yuck. There's this massive pool of drool. Nah no need to worry. I’ve got experience dealing with lazy staff.

I slam my hand on the desk, and the seemingly hungover dude awakes with a start.

“Wuraghhh??” he squeaks, as he fumbles back upright, scanning the room to find the cause of that loud sound.

Until his eyes lie on me. Seriously? I’m right in front of him, but the guy took a few seconds just to notice me.

The receptionist on the human side seemed waay more professional than these lackeys.

“Uh… hello, Ma’am,” he mutters, giving a polite little bow.

Except, it's super stiff, and while his head is turned, a slob of drool drips down from the table, plopping onto his head.

The receptionist gets all frantic again, and I patiently wait for him to… stop acting so energetic.

Is this guy still in his training or what? Cause from what I can tell, he’s really incompetent.

At least Charles knew what he was doing. This guys cluelessly fumbling around.

He seems to regain composure, and straightens his tie – the one that was hanging backwards, and addresses me for the first time in a (barely) professional tone.

“Greeting, Ma;am. So… er, is there anything you want?”

“I’d like to enlist as an adventurer.”

“Oh! Y-yes, Ma’am… sorry, one sec…”

And there he goes again, frantically searching the documents folder for something.

After a few minutes, he takes a deep sigh of relief, and hands me a paper.

“Sorry for the wait, Ma’am. If you wanna… enlist? Nono, sorry. If you would like to join the Adventurer’s Guild, please fill the form out.”

I eye him down.

He’s forgetting something important! Even I know about this!

Seriously, how incompetent can one get?

Ah. Now, we’re awkwardly staring at each other, both making no move. I can see beads of sweat pouring down his forehead…

Finally, after what feels like forever, he catches on.

“Oh, right. So, basically, I have to, like, ask for your rank and class.”

“Rank A, [Assassin] class.”

That was a bold lie. ‘Rank F, classless’ would be more accurate. Although, I get the feeling he wouldn’t approve of that.

Newbies always stick to the rules, right?

…

I’m stupid. An A-rank would totally make me an important figure. This guy wasn’t prepared to assess someone so high ranked.

I mean, the higher the rank, the harder and more tedious the administration is.

He looks like he’s on the verge of tears.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, could you please, y’know, repeat the thingy you said?”

…I know for sure that this guy heard me correctly the first time. Maybe it’s denial or something?

You know what, I’ll make life a bit easier for him. They don’t call me Madam Charity for nothing!

…

Okay I apologise for my existence.

“As I said, I am a Rank-B, [Assassin] class.”

The guy looks visibly relieved. I guess the gap between B rank and A rank was larger than I thought?

If B-rankers are well respected, A-rankers would sort of be like idols or something.

“Well, Ma’am, there's, uh… there's an entrance exam in… a month, was it? Well… there's an entrance exam coming up soon, so go to that.”

Can I get someone capable? Please? If this were my first time signing up, I’d have more questions than answers!

And what's with his permanently dopey expression? Fire this guy, now!

…

Actually, I might do some gaslighting out of spite.

“Alright. I’ll attend the Mithril-badge test when it comes,” I reply, nodding my head as if I understood what he said.

However, the dopey guy – let’s just call him Doper.However, Doper’s eyes look as glazed as a doughnut, and he seems to be gazing into oblivion. The beads of sweat start coming down again.

“E-excuse me, Ma’am, d-did you… say Mithril? Because I’m pretty sure, you said, uh… B-rank. Believe it or not, that is actually a Gold badge,” he states, looking smug for some reason - as if I didn’t know that.

“Yeah. I said Mithril. Are you doubting me?” I sternly replied. I even add a tad of [Aura] into the mix to seem more intimidating.

Hahaha! This is what power feels like!

Doper begins stuttering again, starting and ending his words so much that it barely comes out cohesively. From what I could piece together, Doper said he would call the Guild Master or something.

And after that, he turns around, and practically runs away, tears streaming.

I stand there for a while.

Tap tap-top tap

Strumming my fingers on the hardwood, I impatiently wait until a furtive looking woman steps out.

Unlike Guild Master Koya, she looks rather young.

And behind her stands Doper, who basically hides behind her shadow.

…

I’ll just ignore that clown for now.

“Hello, pleased to meet you! I’m the Guild Master around here. The names Okamis.” she says, greeting me in a friendly, professional tone. See? Okamis even did the polite bow properly without getting spit dribbled on her hair.

“Right. Nice to meet you, Guild Master Okamis. My name is… Shino,” I reply, reciprocating the subtle bow.

Obviously, my name isn’t really Shino. I just took the first kanji symbol from my last name: Shino.

Look, it was either Shino or Hara, okay?

And Hara sounds… rather spastic. So, Shino iit is!

“No no, there's no need for formalities, Shino. Just Okamis will suffice. I heard you are here to undergo the trials for the legendary Mithril badge, right?” she questions, slightly raising an eyebrow while staring me in the eye.

“Yeah,”I quickly reply. A rather anticlimactic response, but it's fine.

Besides, her eyebrow is still slightly ajar. It's almost off-putting.

She keeps quiet for a bit longer, as if expecting me to elaborate. However, after a moment of still silence, she seems to notice that I won’t be talking anymore.

Okamis raises her hand, before elaborating.”Unfortunately, we can’t just administer anyone into the test that easily. The cost is rather hefty, so may I request that you show evidence of your power?”

Mhmm, fair enough. The tests probably take an entire fortune.

No beating around the bush, I guess.

Slightly opening my storage system, a mountain of monster corpses pour out, creating an endless stream of bodies.

“Is this enough?” I ask, giving off a slightly smug grin.

Look, I can’t help but get a bit carried away, okay?

Okamis’ jaw is unhinged, as it hangs loosely in the air.

In fact, the usually rowdy chatter disperses almost instantly.

Oops. What happened to conspicuousness?

Okamis quickly regains her composure, muttering something incomprehensible.

…

<[Okamis]: [Spatial Magic]? I suppose this is no fraud>

Well, hate to break it to you, but I don’t actually have [Spatial Magic]. It seems everyone’s assuming so though, so I might as well bloat around.

After the crowd disperses, Okamis takes me to some underground basement, linked to a dungeon.

This one gives really spooky vibes, in fact-